fight or flight.

dear bee shawl,
you and i have become quite an intimate couple this month—so much so in fact, that i can totally understand your shameless, wanton advance on my man, and even forgive you. after all, i’m sure i’ve led you to believe that we can, indeed, share all things. i think you have a better awareness today about boundries and we can move on from that (i’m not one to hold a grudge, after all). so why, then are you sequestered to the time-out chair?

as i’ve knit you over the last few weeks, i have ESP’d you all my most personal thoughts and dreams, imbuing you with every flight of fancy and anxiety that passes through me over the quiet hours we spend together. your future has been foremost on my mind—with every stitch i have tried to build you in such a way that, once you are set off into the world, you can be confident that you are the lightest, prettiest, most flirty and fancy-free bee.

ok, we may have set the bar a tad high, but you know, why aim for just ordinary?

i have to tell you now that i have made an error in judgment pertaining to your bottom edge. sigh. no one regrets this more than me, my little bee. and that is why you are sitting this morning in the time-out chair (well, that, and i have a job).

though i have stayed up til 4am several nights this week for just the purpose of seeing how the edge came out, i just cannot let it stand as is. it’s . . . bottom-heavy. dowdy. i would show you pictures, but teenagers have enough problems, honey.
trust me when i say, i hate it.
i was rushing, i admit it. several nights when i was too tired to be knitting, i did it anyway.
and to add insult to injusry, even when i suspected disaster, i kept going. it’s entirely my fault. i was winging it.

but i’m going to make it up to you! after class this evening, i am running home to rip all that off. don’t be scared—it won’t hurt a bit. and you’ll have all afternoon to rest in the chair while you wait. don’t appeal to david for an escape strategy—i think it’s obvious that he is completely unaffected by your wiles.

we are going to take off those awful last 24 rows (which we had SUCH high hopes for), and replace them with a mere 8 or so rows of a light, flippy edge that is much more to our liking. we might even have you completely fixed up by this time tomorrow!

so i am going to trust you to sit right there and wait. i’ll put on a book, or the TV, and set a nice strong drink there next to you.

i’ll be thinking of you while i’m gone, and i know everyone else is sending good vibes for a perfect finish as well. don’t you worry.

and in case a little distraction helps at all, claudia exceeded her new goal yesterday by thousands—and knitspot readers have contributed over $8100 of her total. and she still has several days to go.

Wouldn’t it be great if all of our mistakes could be fixed with ball winder and a couple of needles? I always tell my kids, “You haven’t failed until you stop trying.” Which I truly believe. Did you know Thomas Edison tried over 20,000 different fibers in his attempt to find a filament that would work for his electric light bulb? When asked how it felt to fail so many times, he replied: “I have not failed. I have discovered 20,000 ways that do not work.” I bet he drank a lot.

eek – bottom heavy? not what one wants at all… although bumblebees do tend towards rotundity in the bottom region, so perhaps you were just being too faithful to your source of inspiration?
i’m so excited to see the finished shawl…. (no presure or anything!)
xo lilith

…just be careful to shut your bedroom door tightly tonight, and if you hear a strange sweeping shuffling sound, don’t be tempted to open it again. Shawls have frightfully vindictive tempers when they’re crossed (or frogged…)

Congratulations on drawing in 1/4 of all of Claudia’s donations through your charm and effort! I’m sure that the bee is enjoying a hiatus as well. Beeing created can’t be all fun and games. Make sure and sleep so as not to wear yourself out.

What Bee Shawl doesn’t know yet, is that her creator’s edgings are always fabulous!

Take a bow, Anne, for directing all those contributors over to Claudia’s Knitters Against MS site. Claudia is one of the highest, if not the highest, individual fundraisers mentioned on the national “Start to Finish MS” site, and you were instrumental in raising a big chunk of the money. The contest prize contributors should also take a bow!

I’m sure the removing of the bottom heavy border will be quick and only require an hour or two of pick up stitches/recovery time! Plus, it will be so worth the effort and will make ms. bee shawl even more perfect! No pain no gain right?

Hi Anne!
I can’t wait to see the bee shawl finished. I am positive it will be spectacular like the rest of your work. Glad to see that a perfectionist knitter such as yourself is definitely very human and not just us intermediate knitters that make mistakes and bad judgments. So glad she’ll be getting a lighter edging – – WHICH I am positive will be an amazing finish to this shawl. I have loved reading about your progress on this project and I continue to be inspired by you. Thanks so much for sharing.

Hi! Love the shawl so far – love the color (I know you will mention the yarn again when it is finished) and can’t wait for the pattern to appear (actually, don’t want to wait is closer to the truth).

I am working on an Obstacles stole to add to the collection in my churches’ prayer shawl collection (to be given to folks needing a “portable hug”). I thought that a pattern that implied overcoming obstacles would be a good choice, and I am loving knitting it.